Auburn forward Jaylin Williams announces decision to return to Tigers for 2023-2024

Auburn power forward Jaylin Williams announced he will return to school for the 2023-2024 college basketball season and will withdraw his name from the 2023 NBA Draft, he announced on his Twitter page on Wednesday afternoon. The now graduate student Williams averaged over 11 points per game, four rebounds and two assists per game last season. Williams was a bench player as a junior for the Tigers after being a starter as a sophomore. During that 2020-21 season, Williams averaged 10.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.4 blocks on 51.8% shooting.

Check out the announcement below.

Last ride 🦅 pic.twitter.com/1Nb59N5dR0

— Jaylin Williams (@iso__jaywill) May 31, 2023

Williams was the team’s third leading scorer last season and their third leading rebounder. He also drilled the second most three pointers on the team (40). As a junior, he tallied six double digit efforts, including a season-high 14 points against Florida.

During his high school career, Williams played for Brantley County High School (Nahunta, Georgia). He was ranked as the No. 113 overall prospect in the country and a four-star prospect, according to the On3 Industry Rankings for the 2019 cycle.

Jaylin Williams makes his decision, more on the 2023 NBA Draft

The 2023 NBA Draft is set to take place on Thursday, June 22, 2023, in Brooklyn at Barclays Center. Round 1 of the draft will be announced by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, while Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum is expected to handle the second round of picks.

To be eligible for the NBA Draft, players must be at least 19 years in age during the calendar year that the draft is held and at least one NBA season from their high school graduation date, or the date that would have been if they are not graduated. It is not required that player spend that one year playing college basketball, though. Players can play in either college, abroad, or the G League Ignite if they choose so.

While this is a significant change from what the rules once were, players are eligible to enter their names into the NBA Draft pool and explore their options by hiring an agent to go through the process, while still keeping their college eligibility. The deadline to make that move is on April 23 beginning at 11:59 p.m. ET. Players have until June 12 at 5 p.m. ET to withdraw their name from the pool and return to college.

The NBA Draft Lottery will be held on May 16, which is also the start of the NBA Conference Finals.

On3’s Justin Hokanson also contributed to this article.